I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) - Synopsis I Pagliacci - (English title: The Clowns) An Opera by Ruggiero Leoncavallo Opera in two acts, wordd and music by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. Produced, Teatro dal Verme, Milan, May 17, 1892. Grand Opera House, New York, June 15, 1893, under the direction of Gustav Hinrichs, with Selma Kronold (Nedda), Montegriffo (Canio), and Campanari (Tonio). Metropolitan Opera House, December 11, 1893, with Melba as Nedda, De Lucia as Canio, and Ancona as Tonio. CHARACTERS CANIO (in the play Pagliaccio), head of a troupe of strolling players Tenor NEDDA (in the play Columbine), wife of Canio .. Soprano TONIO (in the play Taddeo, a clown) . Baritone BEPPE (in the play Harlequin) .. Tenor SILVIO, a villager .

Baritone Place: Montalto, in Calabria. Time: The Feast of the Assumption, about 1865-70. "Pagliacci" opens with a prologue. There is an instrumental introduction. Then Tonio pokes his head through the curtains, -- "Si puo? Signore e Signori" (By your leave, Ladies and Gentlemen), -- comes out, and sings. The prologue rehearses, or at least hints at, the story of the opera, and does so in musical phrases, which we shall hear again as the work progresses -- the bustle of the players as they make ready for the performance; Canios lament that he must be merry before his audiences, though his heart be breaking; part of the lovemaking music between Nedda and Silvio; and the theme of the intermezzo, to the broad measures of which Tonio sings, "Evo piuttosto che le nostre povere gabbane" (Ah, think then, sweet people, when you behold us clad in our motley).

The prologue, in spite of ancient prototypes, was a bold stroke on the part of Leoncavallo, and, as the result proved, a successful one. Besides its effectiveness in the opera, it has made a good concert number. Moreover, it is quite unlikely that without it Maurel would have offered to play Tonio at the production of the work in Milan. Act I. The edge of the village of Montalto, Calabria. People are celebrating the Feast of the Assumption. In the background is the tent of the strolling players. These players, Canio, Nedda, Tonio, and Beppe, in the costume of their characters in the play they are to enact, are parading through the village. The opening chorus, "Son qua" (Theyre here), proclaims the innocent joy with which the village hails the arrival of the players. The beating of a drum, the blare of a trumpet are heard. The players, having finished their parade through the village, are returning to their tent. Beppe, in his Harlequin costume, enters leading a donkey drawing a gaudily painted cart, in which Nedda is reclining.

Behind her, in his Pagliaccio costume, is Canio, beating the big drum and blowing the trumpet. Tonio, dressed as Taddeo, the clown, brings up her rear. The scene is full of life and gayety. Men, women, and boys, singing sometimes in separate groups, sometimes together, form the chorus. The rising inflection in their oft-repeated greeting to Canio as "il principe se dei Pagliacci" (the prince of Pagliaccios), adds materially to the lilt of joy in their greeting to the players whose coming performance they evidently regard as the climax to the festival. Canio addresses the crowd. At seven oclock the play will begin. They will witness the troubles of poor Pagliaccio, and the vengeance he wreaked on the Clown, a treacherous fellow. 'Twill be a strange combination of love and of hate. Again the crowd acclaims its joy at the prospect of seeing the players on the stage behind the flaps of the tent. Tonio comes forward to help Nedda out of the cart. Canio boxes his ears, and lifts Nedda down himself.

Tonio, jeered at by the women and boys, angrily shakes his fists at the youngsters, and goes off muttering that Canio will have to pay high for what he has done. Beppe leads off the donkey with the cart, comes back, and throws down his whip in front of the tent. A villager asks Canio to drink at the tavern. Beppe joins them. Canio calls to Tonio. Is he coming with them? Tonio replies that he must stay behind to groom the donkey. A villager suggests that Tonio is remaining in order to make love to Nedda. Canio takes the intended humour of this sally rather grimly. He says that in the play, when he interferes with Tonios lovemaking, he lays himself open to a beating. But in real life -- let any one, who would try to rob him of Neddas love, beware. The emphasis with which he speaks causes comment. "What can he mean?" asks Nedda in an aside. "Surely you dont suspect her?" question the villagers of Canio. Of course not, protests, Canio, and kisses Nedda on the forehead.

Just then the bagpipers from a neighbouring village are heard approaching. The musicians, followed by the people of their village, arrive to join in the festival. All are made welcome, and the villagers, save a few who are waiting for Canio and Beppe, go off down the road toward the village. The church bells ring. The villagers sing the pretty chorus, "Din, don -- suona vespero" (Ding, dong -- the vespers bell). Canio nods good-bye to Nedda. He and Beppe go toward the village. Nedda is alone. Canios words and manner worry her. "How fierce he looked and watched me! -- Heavens, if he should suspect me!" But the birds are singing, the birds, whose voices her mother understood. Her thoughts go back to her childhood. She sings, "Oh! Che volo dangelli" (Ah, ye beautiful song-birds), which leads up to her vivacious ballatella, "Stridono lassu, liberamente" (Forever flying through the boundless sky). Tonio comes on from behind the theatre. He makes violent love to Nedda.

The more passionately the clown pleads, the more she mocks him, and the more angry he grows. He seeks forcibly to grasp and kiss her. She backs away from him. Spying the whip where Beppe threw it down, she seizes it, and with its strikes Tonio across the face. Infuriated, he threatens, as he leaves her, that he will yet be avenged on her. A man leans over the wall. He calls in a low voice, "Nedda!" "Silvio!" she cries. "At this hour. . . what madness!" He assures her that it is safe for them to meet. He has just left Canio drinking at the tavern. She cautions him that, if he had been a few moment earlier, his presence would have been discovered by Tonio. He laughs at the suggestion of danger from a clown. Silvio has come to secure the promise of the woman he loves, and who has pledged her love to him, that she will run away with him from her husband after the performance that night. She does not consent at once, not because of any moral scruples, but because she is afraid. After a little persuasion, however, she yields.

The scene reaches its climax in an impassioned love duet, "E allor perchè, di, tu mai stregato" (Why hast thou taught me Loves magic story). The lovers prepare to separate, but agree not to do so until after the play, when they are to meet and elope. The jealous and vengeful Tonio has overheard them, and has run to the tavern to bring back Canio. He comes just in time to hear Nedda call after Silvio, who has climbed the wall, "Tonight, love, and forever I am thine." Canio, with drawn dagger, makes a rush to overtake and stay the man, who was with his wife. Nedda places herself between him and the wall, but he thrusts her violently aside, leaps the wall, and starts in pursuit. "May Heaven protect him now," prays Nedda for her lover, while Tonio chuckles. The fugitive has been too swift for Canio. The latter returns. "His name!" he demands of Nedda, for he does not know who her lover is. Nedda refuses to give it. Silvio is safe! What matter what happens to her.

Canio rushes at her to kill her. Tonio and Beppe restrain him. Tonio whispers to him to wait. Neddas lover surely will be at the play. A look, or gesture from her will betray him. Then Canio can wreak vengeance. Canio thinks well of Tonios ruse. Nedda escapes into the theatre. It is time to prepare for the performance. Beppe and Tonio retire to do so. Canios grief over his betrayal by Nedda finds expression in one of the most famous numbers in modern Italian opera, "Vesti la giubba" (Now don the motley), with its tragic "Ridi Pagliaccio" (Laugh thou, Pagliaccio), as Canio goes toward the tent, and enters it. It is the old and ever effective story of the buffoon who must laugh, and make others laugh, while his heart is breaking. Act II. The scene is the same as that of the preceding act. Tonio with the big drum takes his position at the left angle of the theatre. Beppe places benches for the spectators, who begin to assemble, while Tonio beats the drum.

Silvio arrives and nods to friends. Nedda, dressed as Columbine, goes about with a plate and collects money. As she approaches Silvio, she pauses to speak a few words of warning to him, then goes on, and re-enters the theatre with Beppe. The brisk chorus becomes more insistent that the play begin. Most of the women are seated. Others stand with the men on slightly rising ground. A bell rings loudly. The curtain of the tent theatre on the stage rises. The mimic scene represents a small room with two side doors and a practicable windows at the back. Nedda, as Columbine, is walking about expectantly and anxiously. Her husband, Pagliaccio, has gone away till morning. Taddeo is at the market. She awaits her lover, Arlecchino (Harlequin). A dainty minuet forms the musical background. A guitar is heard outside. Columbine runs to the window with signs of love and impatience. Harlequin, outside, sings his pretty serenade to his Columbine, "O Colombina, il tenero" (O Columbine, unbar to me thy lattice high).

The ditty over, she returns to the front of the mimic stage, seats herself, back the door, through which Tonio, as Taddeo, a basket on his arm, now enters. He makes exaggerated love to Columbine, who disgusted with his advances, goes to the window, opens it, and signals. Beppe as Harlequin, enters by the window. He makes light of Taddeo, whom he takes by the ear and turns out of the room, to the accompaniment of a few kicks. All the while the minuet has tripped its pretty measure and the mimic audience has found plenty to amuse it. Harlequin has brought a bottle of wine, also a phial with a sleeping potion, which she is to give her husband, when opportunity offers, so that, while he sleeps, she and Harlequin may fly together. Love appears to prosper, till, suddenly, Taddeo bursts in. Columbines husband, Pagliaccio, is approaching. He suspects her, and is stamping with anger. "Pour the philtre in his wine, love!" admonishes Harlequin, and hurriedly gets out through the window.

Columbine calls after him, just as Canio, in the character of Pagliaccio, appears in the door, "Tonight, love, and forever, I am thine!" -- the same words Canio heard his wife call after her lover a few hours before. Columbine parries Pagliaccios questions. He has returned too early. He has been drinking. No one was with her, save harmless Taddeo, who has become alarmed and has sought safety in the closet. From within, Taddeo expostulates with Pagliaccio. His wife is true, her pious lips would neer deceive her husband. The audience laughs. But now it no longer is Pagliaccio, it is Canio, who calls out threateningly, not to Columbine, but to Nedda, "His name!" "Pagliaccio! Pagliaccio!" protests Nedda, still trying to keep in the play. "No!" cries out her husband-in a passage dramatically almost as effective as "Ridi Pagliaccio!" -- "I am Pagliaccio no more!

I am a man again, with anguish deep and human!" The audience thinks his intensity is wonderful acting  all save Silvio, who shows signs of anxiety. "Thou hadst my love," concludes Canio, "but now thou hast my hate and scorn." "If you doubt me," argues Nedda, "why not let me leave you?" "And go to your lover! -- His name! Declare it!" Still desperately striving to keep in the play, and avert the inevitable, Nedda, as if she were Columbine, sings a chic gavotte, "Survvia, cosi terrible" (I never knew, my dear, that you were such a tragic fellow). She ends with a laugh, but stops short, at the fury in Canios look, as he takes a knife from the table. "His name!" "No!"  Save her lover she will, at whatever cost to herself. The audience is beginning to suspect that this is no longer acting. The women draw back frightened, overturning the benches. Silvio is trying to push his way through to the stage. Nedda makes a dash to escape into the audience. Canio pursues and catches up with her.

"Take that-and-that!" (He stabs her in the back). "Di morte negli spasimi lo dirai" (In the last death agony, thoult call his name). "Soccorso... Silvio!" (Help! Help! -- Silvio!) A voice from the audience cries, "Nedda!" A man has nearly reached the spot where she lies dead. Canio turns savagely, leaps at him. A steel blade flashes. Silvio falls dead beside Nedda. Gesumaria!" shriek the women; "Ridi Pagliaccio!" sob the instruments of the orchestra. Canio stands stupefied. The knife falls from his hand: "La commedia e finita" (The comedy is ended). There are plays and stories in which, as in "Pagliacci," the drama on a mimic stage suddenly becomes real life, so that they tragedy of the play changes to the life-tragedy of one or more of the characters. "Yoricks Love," in which I saw Lawrence Barrett act, and of which I wrote a review for Harpers Weekly, was adapted by William D.

Howells from "Drama Nuevo" by Estebanez, which is at least fifty years older than "Pagliacci." In it the actor Yorick really murders the actor, whom in character, he is supposed to kill in the play. In the plot, as in real life, this actor had won away the love of Yoricks wife, before whose eyes he is slain by the wronged husband. About 1883, I should say, I wrote a story, "A Performance of Othello," for a periodical published by students of Columbia University, in which the player of Othello, impelled by jealousy, actually kills his wife, who is the Desdemona, and then, as in the play, slays himself. Yet, although the motif is an old one, this did not prevent Catulle Mendès, who himself had been charged with plagiarizing, in "La Femme de Tabarin," Paul Ferrières earlier play, "Tabarin," from accusing Leoncavallo of plagiarizing "Pagliacci" from "La Femme de tabarin," and from instituting legal proceedings to enjoin the performance of the opera in Brussels.

There upon Leoncavallo, in a letter to his publisher, stated that during his childhood at Montalta a jealous player killed his wife after a performance, that his father was the judge at the criminals trial -- circumstances which so impressed the occurrence on his mind that he was led to adapt the episode for his opera. Catulle Mendès accepted the explanation and withdrew his suit. There has been some discussion regarding the correct translation of "Pagliacci." It is best rendered as "Clowns, although it only is necessary to read in Italian cyclopedias the definition of Pagliaccio to appreciate Philip Hales caution that the character is not a clown in the restricted circus sense. Originally the word, which is the same as the French paillasse, signified a bed of straw, then was extended to include an upholstered under-mattress, and finally was applied to the buffoon in the old Italian comedy, whose costume generally was striped like the ticking or stuff, of which the covering of a mattress is made. The play on the mimic stage in "Pagliacci" is, in fact, one of the Harlequin comedies that has been acted for centuries by strolling players in Italy.

But for the tragedy that intervenes in the opera Pagliaccios ruse in returning before he was expected, in order to surprise his wife, Columbina, with Arlecchino, would have been punished by his being buffeted about the room and ejected. For "the reward of Pagliaccios most adroit stratagems is to be boxed on the ears and kicked." Hence the poignancy of "Ridi Pagliaccio!" Search this Site Pagliacci (unabridged) – Naxos AudioBooks Opera Explained – Werther (unabridged) Booklet Notes The word ‘opera’ is Latin and means ‘the works’; it represents a synthesis of all the other arts: drama, vocal and orchestral music, dance, light and design. Consequently, it delivers an emotional impact which none of the others can match. The only one of the arts whose origins can be precisely dated, it was ‘invented’ in Italy in 1597 as part of the Renaissance – the rebirth of interest in classical values.

As an art form it is truly international, crossing all linguistic and cultural barriers, and it is probably the only one whose audience continues to expand, not in spite of, but because of developments in entertainment technology. From its early origins in Italy opera spread across Europe, establishing individual and distinctive schools in a number of countries. France had an early and long- standing love affair with it – hence the term grand opéra, referring to the massive five-act creations that graced the Paris Opéra in the nineteenth century. Germany had an excellent school from as early as Mozart’s time, and opera perhaps reached its highest achievement with the mighty music dramas of Richard Wagner. Russia, Great Britain and the Americas have also made their contributions. In the popular imagination, however, opera remains an Italian concept – and no wonder. From its earliest years Italians dominated the art: Cavalli and Monteverdi were among the first to establish its forms; there was a golden age, called the bel canto, at the beginning of the nineteenth century when Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini ruled supreme; Giuseppe Verdi was probably the most revered artist in musical history; and, for many, Puccini represents in every sense the last word in this beloved genre.

Although the twentieth century has not been as lavishly endowed with opera composers, it can still boast a few, including Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and 4Benjamin Britten – and, maybe most significantly in the long run, those errant step- children of opera, the Broadway musical and the Lloyd Webber spectacular. Pagliacci – Players Opera in a prologue and two acts by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. Libretto by the composer. First performance: Milan, Teatro dal Verme, 21 May 1892. First UK performance: London, Covent Garden, 19 May 1893. First US performance: New York, Grand Opera House, 15 June 1893. Undeniably one of the most powerful short operas in the international opera repertory, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci – which simply means ‘Players’ – has come recently into a life of its own in a very interesting way. For over a century it was invariably paired in performance with Mascagni’s equally powerful Cavalleria rusticana, leading to the slightly irreverent nickname of opera’s ‘Heavenly Twins’.

Nowadays Pagliacci is often given alone. Cynics may say that this reflects the shorter attention-spans of current audiences: our grandparents would have felt short-changed if an evening at the theatre lasted less than three hours, and their grandparents if it lasted less than five. But modern audiences respond strongly to the musical and dramatic values of Pagliacci when it stands alone. These values include one of the most effective stories in the operatic canon, a score which is as skilful as it is melodically inspired, and that very rare fusion of a brilliant libretto with a tailor-made score – the librettist, in this case, being the composer himself. The story is set in the very south of Italy in the nineteenth century and tells of a troupe of travelling clowns headed by Canio, one of opera’s great dramatic roles. He has a wife, Nedda, who is lusted after by the villain Tonio and truly loved by a local boy called Silvio. When Nedda rejects Tonio’s advances and is spied in Silvio’s embrace, Tonio tells all to husband Canio and the stage is set – literally – for double murder and deep tragedy.

What gives the action such power and cohesion is the device of the play-within- the-play, of which Shakespeare showed mastery in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. As the actors of the troupe – the clowns – act out the night’s play using the stock heroes, heroine and villains of the old commedia dell’arte, their comic stage lives and tragic true lives precisely intersect in a devastating fashion. So Nedda/Columbine’s love for Silvio/Harlequin has tragic consequences when her husband Canio/Pagliaccio ‘breaks role’ and confronts her on-stage with demands for her lover’s name. The mounting tension of the extraordinary finale – short but intense – is heightened by music of overwhelming power. Leoncavallo was deeply influenced by Wagner, who also wrote his own libretti, and like many others he struggled to absorb the lessons of the master while establishing an independent voice. The success of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (1890) inspired Leoncavallo to write this masterpiece (1892), which many believed would herald a new dawn, as opera emerged from the shadows of the nineteenth century’s giants Verdi and Wagner.

But it was not to be, and it is more reasonable to see Pagliacci as a superb last triumph of an art form – Italian opera in decline, later to reach its final apotheosis in Puccini’s Turandot. For young Leoncavallo, too, this was a false dawn, as he was never again to achieve a success to equal this masterpiece of music theatre. Synopsis Montalto, Calabria. Feast of the Assumption, about 1865–70. Prologue Tonio, an actor in a troupe of strolling players, comes in front of the curtain to tell the audience that the performance is about to begin. He hints at the story, saying that the play is about real people with everyday human feelings. Act I The village inhabitants enthusiastically welcome a company of actors, just arriving in the village square. Tonio goes to help Nedda down from the carriage but is pushed aside by her jealous husband Canio, who will not let anybody near her. The actors head towards the inn, and Nedda is left alone, disturbed by her husband’s words. She envies the freedom of the birds.

Tonio approaches her, declaring his feelings, and when he becomes too insistent Nedda strikes him across the face with a whip. He stumbles out, focussed on revenge. He then eavesdrops on a conversation between Nedda and her young peasant lover Silvio, whom she finally agrees to elope with that very evening. Canio interrupts the conversation, having been alerted by Tonio, and Silvio escapes. Canio threatens Nedda with a knife, demanding to know the name of her lover. But it is almost time for the performance to begin, so Canio must hide his agitation and despair behind his mask. Act II People stream in to watch the performance, Silvio among them. The play begins: Columbine, here Columbina, (Nedda) is waiting for her lover Harlequin, here Arlecchino, (Beppe). Instead of Harlequin, however, the foolish Taddeo (Tonio) enters and declares his love to Columbine, who rejects him. Harlequin then arrives, but soon has to leave again because Pagliaccio, Columbine’s husband, returns unexpectedly.

Pagliaccio hears his wife’s farewell to Harlequin – the same words that Nedda herself spoke to Silvio before the play. Canio is transported to a real-life situation and becomes confused. His lines are no longer part of the play. He demands to know the name of her lover, and when she refuses to tell him he stabs her. When Silvio rushes onto the stage to help Nedda, Canio kills him too. He then addresses the audience with ‘La commedia è finita’ (‘The comedy is ended’). Notes by Thomson Smillie Ruggero Leoncavallo Biography - Childhood, Life, And Timeline Musicians Ruggero Leoncavallo Biography Ruggero Leoncavallo was a great Italian musician who had composed great operas. Read this biography to learn about the profile, childhood, life and time line of this famous Italian musician. Quick Facts University of Bologna Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Giacomo Maria Giuseppe Emmanuele Raffaele Domenico Vincenzo Francesco Donato Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer, pianist and librettist. He started his career as a music teacher and later turned to composing music.

He spent a considerable part of his life as a touring pianist, traveling through Europe. His was a great admirer of Wagner and this prompted him to attempt a trilogy of operas on Renaissance subjects, which unfortunately, he could never complete. He was not only an amazing musician, but also a brilliant librettist and wrote libretto for his works, except for his last work, "Edipo Re". His major works include operas, operettas, popular songs, and musical comedies. Though regarded as one of the most important Italian musical person, many of his works are not available in the repertory. His two-act work "Pagliacci" is one of the most popular works in the repertory, and holds 20th most-performed operas in the world. Read this biography to learn more about Leoncavallo, his early life and works. Ruggero Leoncavallo's Childhood And Early Life Leoncavallo was born on 23 April 1857 in Naples, Southern Italy, as the son of a Judge. During childhood he moved to Montalto Uffugo in Calabria along with his father and spent his life there till adolescence.

Passionate about music, he joined San Pietro a Majella Conservatory, a famous music institution in Naples. Career And Masterpiece He started off his career as a music teacher and tried to produce some operas, but in vain. Inspired by the success of the opera "Cavalleria Pietro" by Mascagni, Leoncavallo produced an opera "Pagliacci", which was a big verismo hit and brought him to limelight overnight. "Pagliacci", which is considered as his masterpiece, was premiered on May 1892 in Milan. The meaning of the title "Pagliacci" is The Clowns' or 'Strolling Players', which refers to small group of nomadic stage players or actors. This opera depicts the audience about the lives of these people, their relationships and emotions which gets into their stage roles and performance, culminating in a murder. Leoncavallo claimed that it had a real-life origin and he derived the idea from a murder trial which his father had chaired. This opera holds another importance as well; this is the only work by Leoncavallo which is preserved in the operatic repertory.

“Vesti la giubba” was the most famous aria in that opera and is claimed to be the first-ever record to sell a million copies. His next two works, I Medici and Chatterton which were produced in Milan but, both of them could not obtain much public favor. Career Growth His next two works after "Pagliacci" – "I Medici" and "Chatterto",’ which were produced in Milan, could not obtain much public favor. It was when Leoncavallo performed "La boheme" in Venice in 1897 that people got to know more about his talents. His other works include Zaza in the year 1900 and Der Roland von Berlin in 1904. His next work, "Gli zingari", which was premiered in 1912 in London, had a brief success. Though this work reached even the United States, it vanished from the repertory somehow. Leoncavallo did a series of operas and "Edipo Re" was his last work. He died before he could complete this work but, it was almost done, with only orchestration left.

This was then completed by Giovanni Pennacchio by filling the interludes with Leoncavallo’s earlier works. There are not much information on Leonocavallo’s other works. Apart from operas he composed songs as well. Mattinata, the one which he wrote for Gramphone Company (now HMV) was highly popular. Librettos Usually Leoncavallo writes libretto for his works. Leoncavallo’s librettos were popular those days and are considered as greatest librettist after Boito. He had written librettos not only for his works but also for other composers. His libretto for Puccini’s Manon Lescaut is a popular one. Though a wonderful librettist, surprisingly, the libretto of his work Edipo Re was written by Giovacchino Forzano. Death Ruggero Leoncavallo died in Montecatini Terme in Italy, on 9 August 1919 at the age of 69.

Der Roland von Berlin (1904) Maïa (1910) Edipo Re (1920) (Completed by Giovanni Pennacchio ) Operettas La jeunesse de Figaro (1906) Malbrouck (1910) Prestami tua moglie (Lend me your wife)(1916) A chi la giarrettiera?

(Whose Garter Is This?) (1919) (produced after his death) IIprimo bacio (1923 ) (produced after his death) La maschera nuda (1925) (produced after his death) Other Works La nuit de mai (poème symphonique for tenor and orchestra) Séraphitus Séraphita (Poema Sinfonico) November 19, 2012: Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci - Opera At The Library Opera At The Library Upcoming Events ‎ > ‎ November 19, 2012: Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci Pietro Mascagni’s verismo one-act tragic opera Cavalleria Rusticana (‘Rustic Chivalry’) was composed in 1890, and like its partner opera, I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, composed in 1892, both these operas cultivated a new style in the late nineteenth-century Italian literary movement known as verismo, meaning ‘realism’, or ‘truthful’.

Cavalleria Rusticana depicts life in a Sicilian village where love, betrayal, and integrity come to a gripping climax. The mood is set with a chorus and an Easter hymn, together with arias and duets that drive the tragic drama. The best-known solo is “Voi lo sapete, o mamma” (Santuzza), and the opera includes the passionate devotional hymn “Easter Chorus”, “Peasants’ Chorus”, and Intermezzo. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci (‘The Clowns’, or ’Strolling Players’), refers to a small group of strolling players and performers. It follows their loves and jealousies, which spill over into their stage personas and performances, climaxing in murder. Even though the clown knows that his wife has betrayed him, the poor desolate clown has to go on stage and continue to entertain and make people laugh, despite his wretched and deplorable personal circumstances. Listen to Richard Tucker sing Vesti la giubba from Pagliacci Opera Explained: LEONCAVALLO - Pagliacci (Smillie) Opera in a prologue and two acts by Ruggiero Leoncavallo.

Libretto by the composer. Canio, leader of a troupe of strolling players (Pagliaccio) - Nicola Martinucci, tenor Nedda, his wife (Columbina) - Miriam Gauci, soprano Tonio, a hunchback player (Taddeo) - Eduard Tumagian, baritone Beppe, a player (Arlecchino) - Miroslav Dvorsky, tenor Silvio, a villager (Harlequin) - Boje Skovhus, baritone Peasants and Villagers Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) Alexander Rahbari The word ‘opera’ is Latin and means ‘the works’; it represents a synthesis of all the other arts: drama, vocal and orchestral music, dance, light and design. Consequently, it delivers an emotional impact which none of the others can match. The only one of the arts whose origins can be precisely dated, it was ‘invented’ in Italy in 1597 as part of the Renaissance—the rebirth of interest in classical values.

As an art form it is truly international, crossing all linguistic and cultural barriers, and it is probably the only one whose audience continues to expand, not in spite of, but because of developments in entertainment technology. From its early origins in Italy opera spread across Europe, establishing individual and distinctive schools in a number of countries. France had an early and longstanding love affair with it—hence the term grand opéra, referring to the massive five-act creations that graced the Paris Opéra in the nineteenth century. Germany had an excellent school from as early as Mozart’s time, and opera perhaps reached its highest achievement with the mighty music dramas of Richard Wagner. Russia, Great Britain and the Americas have also made their contributions. In the popular imagination, however, opera remains an Italian concept—and no wonder. From its earliest years Italians dominated the art: Cavalli and Monteverdi were among the first to establish its forms; there was a golden age, called the bel canto, at the beginning of the nineteenth century when Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini ruled supreme; Giuseppe Verdi was probably the most revered artist in musical history; and, for many, Puccini represents in every sense the last word in this beloved genre.

Although the twentieth century has not been as lavishly endowed with opera composers, it can still boast a few, including Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten—and, maybe most significantly in the long run, those errant stepchildren of opera, the Broadway musical and the Lloyd Webber spectacular. Undeniably one of the most powerful short operas in the international opera repertory, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci—which simply means ‘Players’—has come recently into a life of its own in a very interesting way. For over a century it was invariably paired in performance with Mascagni’s equally powerful Cavalleria rusticana, leading to the slightly irreverent nickname of opera’s ‘Heavenly Twins’. Nowadays Pagliacci is often given alone. Cynics may say that this reflects the shorter attention-spans of current audiences: our grandparents would have felt short-changed if an evening at the theatre lasted less than three hours, and their grandparents if it lasted less than five. But modern audiences respond strongly to the musical and dramatic values of Pagliacci when it stands alone.

These values include one of the most effective stories in the operatic canon, a score which is as skilful as it is melodically inspired, and that very rare fusion of a brilliant libretto with a tailor-made score—the librettist, in this case, being the composer himself. The story is set in the very south of Italy in the nineteenth century and tells of a troupe of travelling clowns headed by Canio, one of opera’s great dramatic roles. He has a wife, Nedda, who is lusted after by the villain Tonio and truly loved by a local boy called Silvio.When Nedda rejects Tonio’s advances and is spied in Silvio’s embrace, Tonio tells all to husband Canio and the stage is set—literally—for double murder and deep tragedy. What gives the action such power and cohesion is the device of the play-within-the-play, of which Shakespeare showed mastery in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. As the actors of the troupe—the clowns—act out the night’s play using the stock heroes, heroine and villains of the old commedia dell’arte, their comic stage lives and tragic true lives precisely intersect in a devastating fashion.

So Nedda/Columbine’s love for Silvio/Harlequin has tragic consequences when her husband Canio/Pagliaccio ‘breaks role’ and confronts her on-stage with demands for her lover’s name. The mounting tension of the extraordinary finale—short but intense—is heightened by music of overwhelming power. Leoncavallo was deeply influenced by Wagner, who also wrote his own libretti, and like many others he struggled to absorb the lessons of the master while establishing an independent voice. The success of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (1890) inspired Leoncavallo to write this masterpiece (1892), which many believed would herald a new dawn, as opera emerged from the shadows of the nineteenth century’s giants Verdi and Wagner. But it was not to be, and it is more reasonable to see Pagliacci as a superb last triumph of an art form—Italian opera in decline, later to reach its final apotheosis in Puccini’s Turandot. For young Leoncavallo, too, this was a false dawn, as he was never again to achieve a success to equal this masterpiece of music theatre. Thomson Smillie Montalto, Calabria.

Feast of the Assumption, about 1865–70. Prologue Tonio, an actor in a troupe of strolling players, comes in front of the curtain to tell the audience that the performance is about to begin. He hints at the story, saying that the play is about real people with everyday human feelings. Act I The village inhabitants enthusiastically welcome a company of actors, just arriving in the village square. Tonio goes to help Nedda down from the carriage but is pushed aside by her jealous husband Canio, who will not let anybody near her. The actors head towards the inn, and Nedda is left alone, disturbed by her husband’s words. She envies the freedom of the birds. Tonio approaches her, declaring his feelings, and when he becomes too insistent Nedda strikes him across the face with a whip. He stumbles out, focused on revenge. He then eavesdrops on a conversation between Nedda and her young peasant lover Silvio, whom she finally agrees to elope with that very evening. Canio interrupts the conversation, having been alerted by Tonio, and Silvio escapes. Canio threatens Nedda with a knife, demanding to know the name of her lover.

But it is almost time for the performance to begin, so Canio must hide his agitation and despair behind his mask. Act II People stream in to watch the performance, Silvio among them. The play begins: Columbine, here Columbina, (Nedda) is waiting for her lover Harlequin, here Arlecchino, (Beppe). Instead of Harlequin, however, the foolish Taddeo (Tonio) enters and declares his love to Columbine, who rejects him. Harlequin then arrives, but soon has to leave again because Pagliaccio, Columbine’s husband, returns unexpectedly. Pagliaccio hears his wife’s farewell to Harlequin—the same words that Nedda herself spoke to Silvio before the play. Canio is transported to a real-life situation and becomes confused. His lines are no longer part of the play. He demands to know the name of her lover, and when she refuses to tell him he stabs her.When Silvio rushes onto the stage to help Nedda, Canio kills him too. He then addresses the audience with ‘La commedia è finita’ (‘The comedy is ended’).

Question: Which Italian opera has a title meaning 'The strolling players (or clowns)'?
Answer: I Pagliacci